Home > Author > Paulus Silentiarius
1 " My fingers on her breasts, our mouths joined;I graze with deep fury on her silver neck;yet though I labor over Aphrogeneiathis virgin lets me go so far—and deniesme her bed. Her upper body she allowsto Aphrodite, but her under parts she commits to chaste Athena. I waste away between. "
― Paulus Silentiarius
2 " A man bitten by a mad hound, they say,sees an image of the beast in the water.Is Eros then wild with rabies?Did he gash me with his bitter toothand ravage my spirit with his heat?For now I see your darling form mirroredin wine cup, river whirlpool and the sea. "
3 " A rose doesn't need a wreath, my lady, and youdon't need a robe or a gem-studded head-dress.Your skin leaves pearls wanting, not even goldcarries the splendor of your uncombed hair;Indian sapphire has the grace of sparkling radianceyet weaker by far than the sparkle of your eyes;your dewy lips and the honey-mixed harmony of your breastsare simply the charmed girdle of the goddess of love.All this subdues me utterly, and I am soothed onlyby the gentle hope that lives in my eyes. "
4 " Stealthily, so her nervous mother wouldn't know,the lovely girl gave me a pairof rosy apples. Maybe she used magicto glaze those apples red and secretlytorch them with love: miserably, I amentangled in flames, and in place of breasts,good god, my hands vainly caress two apples. "
